Prog Legends King Crimson To Reform (Again)

Legendary prog-rock group King Crimson have existed – on and off – for the best part of 45 years now, and it looks like they are to return to active duty for the first time since 2009 after a blog post from founder Robert Fripp published earlier this month.

While the relighting of the King Crimson flame is enough reason to give any prog fan a sense of purpose in life, this time around the announcement of the band's continuation in particularly sweet. In 2010 Fripp gave an interview to the Financial Times in which he stated that he was no longer interested in working as a musician.

“I made the choice to give up my career as a musician in the frontline to deal with the business,” he said in the article.

A number of issues with the Universal Music Group have been a thorn in Fripp's side for many years now, though in his recent blog post announcing the resumption of the group, he hints that there is likely to be a settlement with the company soon.

“So, King Crimson is in motion. This is a very different reformation to what has gone before: seven players, four English and three American, with three drummers.

“The Seven-Headed Beast of Crim is in Go! mode.”

The three drummers – Gavin Harrison, Bill Rieflin, and Pat Mastelotto – are all either King Crimson alumni or Fripp collaborators, and have also played with everyone from Ministry to Porupine Tree to Mr Mister.

Bassist Tony Levin first joined the band in the 1980s, saxophonist Mel Collins hasn't been a member of the band for 40 years and guitarist Jakko Jakszyk has been a longtime fan of the band (he started a King Crimson tribute act called 21st Century Schizoid Band) and has worked with Fripp a great deal in the past.

Notably absent is guitarist Adrian Belew, who spent a very short amount of time as a member of Nine Inch Nails earlier this year before quickly leaving before playing a show.